“Really happy with everything” – Arteta reacts to latest win over United – Arseblog News

Arsenal closed the gap on league leaders Liverpool to seven points with a 2-0 win over Manchester United designed by set-piece coach Nicolas Jover.

Despite losing talismanic centre-back Gabriel to injury before the game, the Gunners, who have developed a reputation for their prowess from corners, got the advantage with Jurrien Timber and William Saliba on the scoresheet.

Manchester United did well to frustrate Arsenal in the first half, limiting Mikel Arteta’s men to a couple of half chances. However, the home team stepped up after the break and ran out of deserved winners.

The manager was delighted with his side’s game management and the way they loosened up after some tactical adjustments at the break.

Here’s what he had to say when faced with questions from BBC Match of the Day…

On turning things up in the second half…

Yes, we certainly did. It’s a special day. That’s 500 games in this incredible stadium. We wanted to celebrate against a side where we obviously have a lot of history. Unbelievable, the way we responded, the way we played the second half, the goals we scored, two set pieces, we could have scored from open play many more, kept the clean sheet. I’m very happy because we lost two big players to us in the back line, Jakub came in, Alex came in and the team really responded. Really happy with everything.

What he said during the break…

We had to adjust one or two things in the defensive part from what we were doing, especially we had to do the simple things better, we gave away too many simple balls, we found advantages and gave the ball away, so we got that never dominance and attack the spaces and be able to come together so we can counter them. We did a lot better in the second half, the game opened up a bit, there were a lot of balls in the final third and we looked a real threat.

On limiting United to minimal chances…

Yes, in the end, after the throw-in, we gave them the free-kick that they could have scored, and then you need someone like David to make the save. I think it was 2-0 at the time, but very pleased. It’s a jot to play in this stadium with that energy, something incredible.

Whether this was Arsenal’s most effective play from a set-piece point of view…

Well, one of the best, we could have scored more, but it was the same a few times this season. I’m very happy with that, the team has to have the capacity to score from many different situations, many different phases, today we could have scored from open play, short counters, stable build-ups, we did it in the end with two set pieces, fantastic.

After winning three league games in a row for the first time this season…

We have to do our business, continue to play at the level we are playing and continue to win games, what the rest do we will see.

After becoming the first Arsenal manager to win four games in a row against Manchester United…

Ok, thanks a lot!